11 South African words we use for food which confuse the rest of the world

We've claimed a lot of globally-recognised chow (sorry, food) as our own in South Africa.

In South Africa we’ve come up with more practical, unique ways of describing certain foods. These words not only confuse the heck out of foreigners, but they make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside too. And this is especially true when you’re away from home.

So, wherever you are in the world this festive season, here’s your taste of home.

4. We eat spanspek not Cantaloupe

The word spanspek comes from the Afrikaans Spaanse spek meaning “Spanish bacon” and dates back to the 19th century when the Cape governor’s Spanish wife, Juana Smith, insisted on eating melon instead of bacon for breakfast. Her Afrikaans-speaking servants coined the word as they were highly amused by her antics.

6. We eat slap tjips, not french fries

French fries are for fancy restaurants. Salty, oily, thick-cut chips with a dash of vinegar are what we call slap tjips. We sometimes use “chips” to refer to crisps too, which can be confusing, but every South African knows what we mean.